-MAY 2003

"It Happened To Me"

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DUTY

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r- ~

LET'S GO TO
~ ~ TASER SCHOOL
~ f"
mus~u/ar
»

Ne w e s t Taser "electro
disruption" devi~e-it's the luture
01 law enlor~ement weaponry!

By Ralph Mroz
he new Advarx::ed TaserM26 has
gotten a lot of publicity lately, so
everyone reading tt'us probably has
some idea of wha t it's al about-and
somequestions, too. To set a loondation.
let me first provide the basic information.

T

STUN GUNS. TA SERS,
BETTER TA SERS
The Advanced Taser M26 is a ballistic, conduc ted energy weapon. Upo n firing. compressed nitrog en projec1S two
probes. a distanc e of 15 or zt reet
(depend ing on cartridge ). et a spe ed of
180 feel pe r seccoo. The probes are
con nected by thin insula ted wire back
to the M26 , which resembles a hand gun equipped with a laser sight. (It is,

Smith & Wesson semiautos.)
The ze-watt M26 is a n upda ted,
more powerfu l version of the older Air
Taser 34000, a z -watt unit. The difference between the olde r low-wattage
technologies and the M26 is more than
jus lthe power-il's the effect they have.
Five-to t5-watt tase r technol ogies operate on lhe S8OSOl)' nervous systemthai is, they "ja m- me nervous system
wilh electrical noise, which is ove rwhelming and painful 10 most people. In
the field they we re about 86% effective .
Whic h means mat o n abo ut 14% ot me
customers we deal with . they we ren't. In
tact, it beca me a bit of a game in various tes tosterone circles (SpecWar units
and so on) to be able to ove rcome the

by design, aimed and operated very
muc h like a standa rd sidea rm for ease

of use under stress.) Upon pulling the
trigger, the prob es are fired a nd a fiveseco nd cycle of elect rical o utput is initial ed (this cycle can be repeated by
pulling the tr igger aga in, o r truncated
by opera ting the a mbide xtrous safety
leve r on the side of the gun-w hich
op erates just like the de-cocke r on

11Apolice ollicer lakes
aimwith Ihe Advanced
raser M26. The unit
opetales V1! rymuch like
a pislol. l)lnslructor
Trainel Jay Kehoe culs
the dozens of leads
a"ached 10 the ptobes
stuck in the plactice
dummy. 3)This practice
dummy took alai 01
hils-these are only
some 01 the saeu
instruttor-$ludents look
during Ihis class.

12 GUM
S&- WUPONS FORLAW (M
fOR(fMEHI

effect s of these un its. The M26 , however, is an electro-muscular disruption
(EMD) device. EMD unils. operating in
the 16-26 watt range . not only d isorient
and cause pa in, they override the central nervous system and cause uncontrolla ble contractions of muscle tissue (it
does hurt, let me assu re you!).
Neithe r 01 the aforementioned ballistic units shou ld be confused with slu n
guns, whidl a re low-wattage, noo-ballishe units in which contact must be made
with the assa ilant. Stun guns conduct
the ir low ene rgy o nly between the
app roximately two-inches-apart electrodes on l he stu n unit, w hile balli stic
Tasers conduct the e nergy between the
gene rally 1-3 tee t separated probe s.
Stun guns are even less
effectiv e than lowwa ttage lasers . (Just to
confuse things a little
mo re. A ir l asers ca n be
used a s stun guns without their ba llistic cartr idges in place, but this
is not their primary use.)
Bottom line: no one to
date has be en able to
figh t throug h the effects
of an M26, a lthough
some mighty to ugh teuas
have spen t yea rs try ing

Yes- it works! The ob ject waslorthe ctticer
pla vingthe perp 10 raise his dummy gun and
point it al Ihe raser cperatar. No can dol
Nole inet assisting outeers can indeed hold
unto the shocked subject wilh nc ill eltecls.
Onthestreet, a person being tased can be
lIandculfed while being shocke d.
to! As of year end, a conse rvative ly
estimated 10,000 people have been
las ed in genuine law enfo rcement
encounte rs and the success rate is
over 94% (well over the success rate of
any firearm). The few non-effective toeden ts we re due, not to the individual

being able to sustain the "hit: but due
10 probe misse s, thick clothing, operator

For more

informat ion :
l aser InterN ti0ll31
7860 E. McCain Dr.
Ste. 2, Dept. GWI1..E
Scottsdale. Al 85260
806-978-2737
W'fIW.taser.com

errors, low
batteries,
and o ther
"Murphy"
tactors.
To th iS
incredible
effective(Please tum
ro page 78)

GUlfS & WEAPONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMEItT 13

TASER INSTRUCTOR SCHOOL
Continued from page 13

ness, add in the facts thai the M26 runs
on standard AA alkaline or Nickel metal
Hydride (NiMH) rechargable batteries, cost
less than most standard duty sidearms, it is
field proven, completely non-injurious, can't

injure bystanders, won', damage buildings
or property, works through most body armor,
and requires no clean-up or oecon (like
aerosol sprays), and the M26 sounds like a
neat tool, does n't it?

SEE THE FUTURE
It is, in fact, the closest thing we have to
a phaser set to stun, Actually, except for
the wires, it is a phaser set to stun. It is the

future of law enforcement weaponry, in my
opinion, IMO, it w ill have an even greater
lasting effect on law enforcement use of
force than OC did, and I suspect it will supplant the firearm for many encounters-not
because it's non-lethal, but because it's so
effective! A bullet from a firearm mayor
may not have any effect on you, and the
chances are that the first one won't (even
.45s, you 1911 bigots!) But a hit from the
M26 is 94% likely to stop you IMMEDIATElY! Them's better chances than from any
sidearm! Given a lethal force encounter in
which the M26 was viable (I had a clear
shot at the perp, and he was within the
M26's range) I would bet my life on the
effectiveness of the M26 before any handgun caliber round.
As of year-end 2002, 1888 agencies
and over 30,000 officers have adopted the
Advanced Taser M26, Instructor training is
provided by Taser International at various
times and locations (check their excellently
laid out and thoroughly informative web
site for details). I recently had the pleasure
of attending one sponsored by Connecticut
POST and taught by Lt. Jay Kehoe of the
Glastonbury, CT PD (it was a pleasure
except for the part about taking a hit from
the M26). This was one of the most professionally developed classes I've ever
attended in the law enforcement area. The
material (both the presentation material
and the written manual) was thorough and
extremely well organized. The presentation
ran off CD-ROM-which is available to all
instructors as part ot the package-and
included many interesting video clips of
actual uses, This was one example of the
ways in which Taser International, as a
high-tech comp any, uses technology
itself. Also, new information is posted to
their website quickly, new instructor and
user materials are available there for
download, and the company keeps in reg"

18 GUNS& WEAPONS FORLAWENFORCEMENT

What the business end 01 the M26 looks like. This omeer is lir ing into a practice dummy.
A metaruc taser-specutctargel is on me stand behind him.

ular touch with its instructors via email.
The student course on which the Instructor course is based starts with a safety overview. Essentially, Taser International says to treat a Taser just like you would
a real gun. Initial segments then provide
an overview of Taser technology and the
Taser units themselves. Several videos
are shown of actual uses, and tactical and
policy considerations are discussed. A discussion 01 how EMD devices work- and
why they're safe-is provided with tield
results presented. Medical findings are
displayed and comparisons to other taser
and stun technologies made. The results
of agency tests are presented and the cost
of an "average" officer-involved shooting
(with a firearm) is calculated. Of course,
the mechanics , manual of arms and use
protocol for the M26 is explained, too .
There is an extensive discussion ot batteries and the cartridge mechanism.
Students get to fire probes into a special (conductive) target to get the feel of
the M26 and their technique with the tool
is developed. Maintenance and maintenance procedures are reviewed and relevant legal cases presented. (Note here:
the t rend with the courts, it seems, is that
sooner or later agencies are going to have
to explain why the non-lethal, non-injurious Taser was not deployed if it could
have been.) Contingencies are covered,
and a test is given.
Then the fun begins. It. Kehoe put us
through simulated tactical scenarios in
which we got to use the M26 and become
familiar with its manual of arms under a bit

of stress. Like any tool, it does require
training and repetitions. Finally, we all got
to take a hit from the M26, and it's an
experience we'll not forget.

IT'S OBVIOUS
Someday soon we're all going to be
carrying a 'raser; It's just too good a tool:
it's cheap, extremely effective, does no
harm, and the courts will mandate it. The
M26 spent some time in development, and
it's clear that lots of LE input went into the
effort. It was designed to take advantage
of the time that an officer already has in
firearms training by operating and pointing
like a pistol: Yet it's available in bright colors to differentiate it visually from a service
pistol. There is a dataport in the unit which
records each use, and thus provide proof
against excessive or abusive use by officers. Each cartridge is individually encoded with a unique serial number lor control
and documentation, When a cartridge is
fired, up to 40 small confetti-like ID tags
are released with the cartridge's serial
number on it. Half of these tags are brightly colored so that they can be found, and
half are transparent, so the bad guys can't
mess with the evidence. Again-more evidence that it happened the way you said it
did. Finally, each M26 comes with an internal laser aiming device in addition to its
fixed sights.
If you have not tried out an Advanced
Taser M26 yet, you really owe it to yourself and your agency to do so. It is the
future!
_